Exploring built environment impacts on transit use – an updated meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

The built environment (BE) is widely accepted to influence transit use (TU). Evidence to date suggests the relationship is dependent on many factors which can be difficult to account for in quantitative studies. This creates barriers to transferring research into practice. Considering many studies together can be useful for accounting for more of the factors impacting transit use. Yet, meta-analysis of research measuring these influences was last undertaken in 2010 based on 18 studies. Since then 90 new quantitative studies have been published. These recent studies use improved methodologies and are conducted in more diverse geographies. This paper reports an improved and updated meta-analysis of built environment impacts on transit use. It compares elasticity estimates from research published pre-and post-2010 and explores the impact of new methods and a more diverse geographical representation on findings. Updated meta-elasticities range from <0.01 to 0.26; a similar range to the 2010 study. However, at the individual indicator levels, more recent results are different. Elasticities for urban density, including population, employment and commercial density, have increased significantly in studies published since 2010, as did that of land use mix. However, measures of local access, design and jobs-housing balance decreased in post-2010 studies. These results confirm the small but imprecise relationship between the BE and TU. Results also suggest that while the range of elasticity impacts is relatively consistent, new study methodologies, notably those that control for regional accessibility and self-selection, and the increasing geographical diversity in study applications, is acting to change BE-TU findings at the indicator level. Research setting and context are important to consider when using empirical results to design BE strategies to promote transit use.     

Spatio-temporal analysis of car distance,greenhouse gases and the effect of built environment: A latent class regression analysis

This work examines the temporal–spatial variations of daily automobile distance traveled and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and their association with built environment attributes and household socio-demographics. A GHGs household inventory is determined using link-level average speeds for a large and representative sample of households in three origin–destination surveys (1998, 2003 and 2008) in Montreal, Canada. For the emission inventories, different sources of data are combined including link-level average speeds in the network, vehicle occupancy levels and fuel consumption characteristics of the vehicle fleet. Urban form indicators over time such as population density, land use mix and transit accessibility are generated for each household in each of the three waves. A latent class (LC) regression modeling framework is then implemented to investigate the association of built environment and socio-demographics with GHGs and automobile distance traveled. Among other results, it is found that population density, transit accessibility and land-use mix have small but statistically significant negative impact on GHGs and car usage. Despite that this is in accordance with past studies, the estimated elasticities are greater than those reported in the literature for North American cities. Moreover, different household subpopulations are identified in which the effect of built environment varies significantly. Also, a reduction of the average GHGs at the household level is observed over time. According to our estimates, households produced 15% and 10% more GHGs in 1998 and 2003 respectively, compared to 2008. This reduction can be associated to the improvement of the fuel economy of vehicle fleet and the decrease of motor-vehicle usage – e.g., a decrease of 4% is observed for fuel efficiency rates and 12% for distance according to the raw average estimates from 1998 with respect to 2008. A strong link is also observed between socio-demographics and the two travel outcomes. While number of workers is positively associated with car distance and GHGs, low and medium income households pollute less than high-income households.     

基于机器学习模型的建成环境对小汽车拥有行为的影响

为分析家庭小汽车拥有行为，同时考虑居住地和工作地建成环境的影响，构建梯度提升迭代决策树(GBDT)模型；分析社会经济属性，居住地、工作地建成环境属性对小汽车拥有行为的影响程度，并基于长春市居民出行调查数据进行实证研究.结果表明：3类影响因素中，社会经济属性对小汽车拥有行为的影响最大(58.95%)；职住地建成环境属性均对家庭小汽车拥有行为具有显著影响，且居住地建成环境影响(23.77%)高于工作地建成环境(17.28%)；职住地建成环境属性中，除居住地交叉口密度，工作地到中央商务区(CBD)距离及公共交通站点密度外，其他建成环境属性对小汽车拥有行为的影响均大于5%.因此，有必要同时优化职住地的建成环境来抑制小汽车拥有量的增长.     

半潜式支持平台恶劣海况下运动性能试验研究

半潜式支持平台的研发面临一系列技术难题，尤其是恶劣海洋环境对平台的影响。恶劣环境下，平台会出现严重的非线性载荷特性，严重时会危害平台安全，因此在研发设计阶段，有必要开展半潜式支持平台在恶劣海洋环境下的运动性能研究。针对我国自主开发设计的某型深水半潜式支持平台，基于模型试验方法开展恶劣海况下运动性能研究。在完成水平系泊系统和气隙、砰击载荷测试方案设计的基础上，开展试验研究，获得了平台固有周期、阻尼系数、恶劣海况下的运动响应以及气隙、砰击等非线性载荷。结果显示，在恶劣海况下，目标平台运动响应较大，不具备作业条件。平台多处气隙出现负值且发生较为显著的砰击现象，砰击次数及砰击压力均较大。结果为半潜式支持平台总体设计提供了有效的支撑数据。     

Chloride diffusion models for Type I and fly ash cement concrete exposed to field and laboratory conditions

The exposure temperature significantly affects the diffusion of chloride ions in concrete, and, as such, it must be taken into consideration in the development of service-life prediction models for structures exposed to chloride-bearing environments. Most of the earlier studies have used cement paste to assess the effect of exposure temperature on chloride diffusion. In the reported study, chloride diffusion in Type I and fly ash (20% fly ash) cement concrete was evaluated under field and laboratory conditions. The laboratory concrete specimens were exposed to chloride solution maintained at four temperatures (22, 35, 50 and 60 °C) for 365 days. Beam specimens were exposed in the tidal zone of a marine exposure site, along the Arabian Gulf coast, for up to 10 years to study the chloride diffusion in the field specimens. The coefficient of chloride diffusion (D_a) in the concrete specimens exposed to 22 or 35 ᵒC in the laboratory was less than that in the concrete specimens exposed to 50 and 60 ᵒC. The D_a for Type I cement concrete specimens increased by 3.6 times as the temperature was increased from 22 to 60 ᵒC while this increase was 2.3 times for the fly ash cement concrete specimens for a similar increase in the temperature. The D_a decreased with the period of exposure in the field specimens. The values of activation energy that can be used for predicting the chloride diffusion for exposure temperature within the range of 22–60 °C were developed based on the laboratory data. In addition, mathematical models were developed relating the coefficient of chloride diffusion in the field and laboratory concrete specimens. The developed models can be utilized to ascertain chloride diffusion in field specimens, utilizing the laboratory values, and hence calculate the useful service-life of structures.     

生态环境可持续发展下山岭隧道防排水设计理念和工程措施之我见

现行山岭隧道的防排水设计和施工建造时,对水以排为主的措施引起周边环境的负面影响越来越大。在生态环境可持续发展要求下,实施工程要综合考虑与现有生态环境的友好关系,隧道防排水设计和工程措施需要考虑对环境的长远影响。结合工程实践,提出对山岭隧道在规划、设计和施工时,宜适当调整工程建设理念,改进工程实施措施,在改善人文环境的同时,缓解工程实施对生态环境的影响和破坏。     

认知语境对英文阅读学习的影响及作用

认知语境是认知语言学的一个重要概念,文章通过对认知语境的讨论,旨在研究认知语境对英文阅读学习的影响和作用,从而提高大学生英文阅读能力并对其今后英文阅读学习提供有意义的参考和启示.     

自动驾驶接管影响因素分析与研究进展

部分或有条件自动驾驶车辆允许驾驶员将驾驶任务移交给自动驾驶系统，但驾驶员仍需对驾驶环境进行监测，若发生紧急事件或驾驶环境超出系统运行设计域等情况，驾驶员需要及时接管车辆。影响驾驶接管过程的因素主要包括：人因、交通环境以及人-机交互系统。本文分析了驾驶员认知负荷特性等人因对接管过程和接管时间预算的影响。分析发现，驾驶员长时间脱离驾驶任务会导致其陷入被动疲劳或驾驶分心状态，从而降低接管绩效。适当的非驾驶任务可以使驾驶员保持一定的认知负荷，降低驾驶员的被动疲劳水平。结合网联技术的应用可以多次发出预警信号，提高接管绩效。本文讨论了交通密度、道路条件等交通环境对接管时驾驶员感知、认知及决策的影响，探讨混合交通下过渡区智能网联车辆控制权切换 (Transitions of Control, ToC) 的管理问题。在复杂道路交通下，驾驶员需要更多时间恢复对环境的感知，且驾驶员在弯道接管车辆时更容易出现较大横向偏差。在混合交通环境中，为防止过渡区出现集中的ToC，可以制定相应交通管理措施，以降低过渡区域中车辆之间的相互干扰。本文还分析了视觉、听觉、触 觉、嗅觉及其组合类型交互方式的优、缺点，讨论网联环境下人-机交互系统设计以及ToC形式。 单个的交互方式有其自身的优、缺点，多种类型相结合的交互形式能形成优势互补，及时地将接 管信息传递给驾驶员，并将其注意力集中于对环境的感知。网联技术发展使得可利用的行车信息的数量和种类都有所提高，网联信息需要更好地呈现策略，以保证人-机交互界面具有较高的可用性和接受性，为驾驶员提供更加准确的交互信息。同时，利用驾驶员状态识别技术实时监测驾驶员所处状态，并通过人-机交互系统提醒驾驶员，使其保持警觉，提高接管绩效。未来研究应该重点关注非驾驶任务对驾驶员认知特性的影响，结合接管时的驾驶环境，遵循预测算法辅助驾驶员实现控制权的平稳过渡。随着网联技术的不断应用，逐步改进现有人-机交互系统的设计和性能，对过渡区域ToC的管理问题展开深入研究。     

山西省高速公路水环境污染及其防治措施探讨

文章分析了高速公路在建设和运营过程中对地表或地下水环境的影响,并相应的提出了高速公路建设期和运营期水环境污染防治措施,为山西省高速公路水环境安全相关研究的进一步发展和完善提供参考和借鉴。     

Multi-period Research Designs for Identifying Causal Effects of Built Environment Characteristics on Travel Behaviour

Abstract

To date, most empirical studies have applied cross-sectional designs to investigate the relationship between the built environment (BE) and travel behaviour (TB). Since these studies cannot identify causal influence, the use of designs that provide data on multiple moments in time seems necessary. This article classifies these designs and describes how they can be applied to identify causality in this relationship. We recommend the use of natural experiments to assess the impact of changes in land use/infrastructure and prospective longitudinal designs to assess the impact of residential or job moves. In addition, the role of the BE can be explored by assessing the impact of (1) deliberate TB change experiments and (2) changes in household circumstances across different spatial contexts over time. The use of randomised experimental designs is recommended for the former and prospective longitudinal designs for the latter. The article concludes with an outlook on future research.